Makerere University is the oldest and largest institution of higher learning in Uganda, established in 1922, and for so many years, it has produced great minds, including political, academic, professional, and literary people.
Yet with such an interesting history, the university has regressed more than it has progressed. While education’s sole essence is to unlearn and question concepts, be they public policies, without any external interference, Makerere University, as of now, teaches students otherwise.
On Monday, the 13th, at Mitchell Hall, a row erupted when a number of students turned against their fellows whom they suspected of being gay. According to our reporter, the two suspects were dehumanized—beaten to a pulp—before they were rescued by the police, having fired bullets in the air to scare away the furious students.
While gathering information about the incident, Kuchu Times landed on one of the university WhatsApp groups, Young RBG, where students [boys] grumbled in disappointment about how the victims narrowly survived their wrath, promising to crash them the next time.
“Unless we kill someone or burn…they will never know it is serious, and it will end up becoming normal. Next time, no negotiations, and leaders should first stay away when we are handling such people,” one student said.
“Man, there’s no way guys will stop until we do something serious about it. Because I hear the guy, we took to the police station has been released… Now that is not good,” another student added with so much hate.
With the Anti-Homosexuality Act, 2023, in play, life continues to harden for the LGBTQ Ugandans, as their security is unguaranteed, homophobia soars, and the trails it leaves are unprecedented hate and stratification between the LGBTQ community and the holier-than-thou majority—those who continue to sacrifice people for who they are.
While other university students in other African countries are holding governments accountable, while they are challenging policies, and while they are storming the streets to condemn bad governance and unemployment, Ugandan students are turning against each other and swearing to kill those they disagree with on sexuality.
For true education is about tolerance and accepting that we can live with others even when we do not agree with who they are, but with what ensued at Makerere University on the 13th, we can all agree that our education system has failed.
Previously, Makerere University used to produce revolutionaries who would later challenge dictatorships and writers and scholars like Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, who challenged colonialism without flinching, but today, it is molding champions of violence, who cannot stand up against their own university’s tyrannical administration but somehow have the courage to hurt their fellow students for their sexuality. What a shame!
According to our reporter, there is another marked target in Livingston Hall whom they plan to attack any time soon, and if authorities and policymakers do not go back to the drawing board and redefine education in terms of acceptance and tolerance, our country will continue to produce students who cannot survive beyond the classroom setting, students whose homophobia surpasses their humanity.
And if this is not addressed with urgency, we will have created a grim precedent, and we will have normalized suppressing those we disagree with—this is not just about the LGBTQ community—these students are the future leaders, and if they are not groomed today, they might end up suppressing their future political opponents or even common people. The time is now! We can save our education. We can still produce tolerant, independent thinkers.
